2 Samuel 3:24

THE MESSAGE

Joab went straight to the king: "What's this you've done? Abner shows up, and you let him walk away scot-free? You know Abner son of Ner better than that. This was no friendly visit. He was here to spy on you, figure out your comings and goings, find out what you're up to."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look here, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he’s getting away.

Hebrew Names Version
Then Yo'av came to the king, and said, What have you done? behold, Aviner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, and he is quite gone?

King James Version
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?

Lexham English Bible
Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Abner came here to you? Why have you dismissed him that he actually went away?

English Standard Version
Then Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone?

New Century Version
Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Abner came to you. Why did you let him go? Now he's gone.

New English Translation
So Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Abner has come to you! Why would you send him away? Now he's gone on his way!

Amplified Bible
Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why did you send him away, so that he is already gone?

New American Standard Bible
Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why then have you let him go, so that he is already gone?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Ioab came to the King, and saide, What hast thou done? beholde, Abner came vnto thee, why hast thou sent him away, and he is departed?

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why then have you sent him away and he is already gone?

Contemporary English Version
Joab went to David and said, "What have you done? Abner came to you, and you let him go. Now he's long gone!

Complete Jewish Bible
Yo'av went to the king and said, "What have you done? Here, Avner came to you, and you sent him away, and now he's gone! Why?

Darby Translation
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came to thee; why is it [that] thou hast sent him away, and he is gone?

Easy-to-Read Version
Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Abner came to you, but you sent him away without hurting him! Why?

George Lamsa Translation
Then Joab came to King David, and said to him, What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why have you sent him away, and he is gone from you?

Good News Translation
So Joab went to the king and said to him, "What have you done? Abner came to you—why did you let him go like that?

Literal Translation
And Joab came to the king, and said, What have you done? Behold, Abner has come to you; why is this, that you have sent him away, and going he is gone?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then wente Ioab in to the kynge, and sayde: What hast thou done? Beholde, Abner came to the, why hast thou sent him from the, that he is gone his waye?

American Standard Version
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?

Bible in Basic English
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have you done? when Abner came to you why did you send him away and let him go?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then Ioab came to the king, and said: What hast thou done? Behold, Abner came vnto thee, and why hast thou sent him away, and he is quyte gone?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then Joab came to the king, and said: 'What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?

King James Version (1611)
Then Ioab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came vnto thee, why is it that thou hast sent him away, & he is quite gone?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Joab went in to the king, and said, What is this that thou hast done? behold, Abenner came to thee; and why hast thou let him go, and he has departed in peace?

English Revised Version
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?

Berean Standard Bible
So Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he is getting away!

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Joab entride to the kyng, and seide, What hast thou do? Lo! Abner cam to thee; whi leftist thou hym, and he yede, and departide?

Young's Literal Translation
And Joab cometh unto the king, and saith, `What hast thou done? lo, Abner hath come unto thee! why [is] this -- thou hast sent him away, and he is really gone?

Update Bible Version
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have you done? look, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, and he is quite gone?

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came to thee; why [is] it [that] thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?

World English Bible
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have you done? behold, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, and he is quite gone?

New King James Version
Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Look, Abner came to you; why is it that you sent him away, and he has already gone?

New Living Translation
Joab rushed to the king and demanded, "What have you done? What do you mean by letting Abner get away?

New Life Bible
Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? See, Abner came to you. Why then have you sent him away, so that he is gone?

New Revised Standard
Then Joab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Abner came to you; why did you dismiss him, so that he got away?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then Joab came in unto the king, and said - What hast thou done? Lo! Abner came in unto thee. Wherefore is it that thou didst let him go, so that he is clean departed?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Joab went in to the king, and said: What hast thou done? Behold Abner came to thee: Why didst thou send him away, and he is gone and departed?

Revised Standard Version
Then Jo'ab went to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Joab came to the king and said, "What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you; why then have you sent him away and he is already gone?

Contextual Overview

²²Soon after that, David's men, led by Joab, came back from a field assignment. Abner was no longer in Hebron with David, having just been dismissed with David's blessing. As Joab and his raiding party arrived, they were told that Abner the son of Ner had been there with David and had been sent off with David's blessing. ²⁴Joab went straight to the king: "What's this you've done? Abner shows up, and you let him walk away scot-free? You know Abner son of Ner better than that. This was no friendly visit. He was here to spy on you, figure out your comings and goings, find out what you're up to." ²⁶Joab left David and went into action. He sent messengers after Abner; they caught up with him at the well at Sirah and brought him back. David knew nothing of all this. When Abner got back to Hebron, Joab steered him aside at the gate for a personal word with him. There he stabbed him in the belly, killed him in cold blood for the murder of his brother Asahel. ²⁸Later on, when David heard what happened, he said, "Before God I and my kingdom are totally innocent of this murder of Abner son of Ner. Joab and his entire family will always be under the curse of this bloodguilt. May they forever be victims of crippling diseases, violence, and famine." (Joab and his brother, Abishai, murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel at the battle of Gibeon.) ³¹David ordered Joab and all the men under him, "Rip your cloaks into rags! Wear mourning clothes! Lead Abner's funeral procession with loud lament!" King David followed the coffin. They buried Abner in Hebron. The king's voice was loud in lament as he wept at the side of Abner's grave. All the people wept, too. ³³Then the king sang this tribute to Abner: Can this be? Abner dead like a nameless bum? You were a free man, free to go and do as you wished— Yet you fell as a victim in a street brawl. And all the people wept—a crescendo of crying! ³⁵They all came then to David, trying to get him to eat something before dark. But David solemnly swore, "I'll not so much as taste a piece of bread, or anything else for that matter, before sunset, so help me God!" Everyone at the funeral took notice—and liked what they saw. In fact everything the king did was applauded by the people. It was clear to everyone that day, including all Israel, that the king had nothing to do with the death of Abner son of Ner. ³⁸The king spoke to his servants: "You realize, don't you, that today a prince and hero fell victim of foul play in Israel? And I, though anointed king, was helpless to do anything about it. These sons of Zeruiah are too much for me. God , requite the criminal for his crime!"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What hast: Joab and his brother Abishai, David's nephews, had been very faithful and highly useful to him in his distresses; and, from gratitude and natural affection, he had inadvertently permitted them to assume almost as much ascendancy over him as Abner had over the pusillanimous Ishbosheth: he trusted and feared them too much, and allowed them all the importance they claimed; which had emboldened them, especially Joab, to a high degree of presumption. 2 Samuel 3:8, 2 Samuel 3:39, 2 Samuel 19:5-7, Numbers 23:11, John 18:35

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:13 - What 1 Samuel 13:11 - What hast 2 Samuel 19:6 - thou regardest Proverbs 19:10 - much

Cross-References

Genesis 3:2
The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"

Genesis 3:8
When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.

Genesis 3:9
God called to the Man: "Where are you?"

Genesis 3:16
He told the Woman: "I'll multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you."

Genesis 3:17
He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."

Genesis 3:22
God said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!"

Joshua 5:13
And then this, while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, "Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies'?"

1 Samuel 4:4
So the army sent orders to Shiloh. They brought the Chest of the Covenant of God , the God -of-the-Angel-Armies, the Cherubim-Enthroned- God . Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the Chest of the Covenant of God.

Psalms 80:1
An Asaph Psalm Listen, Shepherd, Israel's Shepherd— get all your Joseph sheep together. Throw beams of light from your dazzling throne So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh can see where they're going. Get out of bed—you've slept long enough! Come on the run before it's too late.

Psalms 99:1
God rules. On your toes, everybody! He rules from his angel throne—take notice! God looms majestic in Zion, He towers in splendor over all the big names. Great and terrible your beauty: let everyone praise you! Holy. Yes, holy.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then Joab came to the king,.... To the apartment where he was; perhaps he was told the above at his first entering into the king's palace, by some in waiting, before he came to the king, which filled him with wrath, so that he came to him in a passion:

and said to him, what hast thou done? which was very insolent in a subject to say to his prince:

behold, Abner came unto thee; I have been credibly informed of it, and am assured it is a fact which cannot be denied; he represents it as if he had done a wrong thing to admit him to come to him; but perhaps the great fault was that he had let him go:

why [is] it [that] thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone? or "going, [is] gone" e; is clean gone off, when he ought to have been laid hold on as a traitor, and put in irons.

e וילך הלוך "et abiit eundo", Pagninus, Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Joab saw that if Abner was reconciled to David, his own post as second in the state would be forfeited; and then with characteristic unscrupulosity he proceeded to take Abner’s life.